North Carolina governor, attorney general campaign in Mecklenburg County House race

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A race for the state House in Mecklenburg County has attracted the governor, state attorney general and thousands of campaign contributions.

Usually, a state representative race flies under the radar, but the showdown for House District 105, which serves Mint Hill, Matthews and parts of south Charlotte, has drawn attention across the state and the country.

Republican Tricia Cotham is facing Democrat Ken McCool. Cotham is the incumbent and a longtime member of the state House. McCool is a former Matthews town commissioner who says he first gained an interest in politics when Cotham visited his 10th-grade journalism class.

“She was the person who really introduced me to politics,” McCool told WBTV. “Kind of lit a fire under me,” he said.

At the time of that high school visit, Cotham was a Democrat. Her switch to the Republican Party in 2023 came as a shock to her constituents and handed the NCGOP a supermajority, allowing Republicans to override vetoes from then-Gov. Roy Cooper.

“It was weird, right, because this was someone who I had looked up to, someone I had supported and who had supported me in the past,” McCool said.

The state legislature then redrew House District 105 to make it possible for Cotham to run as a Republican. She won the seat in 2024 by fewer than 200 votes.

WBTV spent a month trying to set up an interview with Cotham, but she was never made available.

McCool has hosted campaign events featuring Gov. Josh Stein and North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson. He said their presence underscores the importance of this race.

“This is kind of like the political epicenter of North Carolina,” McCool said, referencing the approximate even split of Republicans and Democrats registered in the district.

“If we don’t win this district as Democrats, we’re not going to win the other districts around the state, so this is where we start,” McCool said.

“I think the confidence that the attorney general has and the governor has to come down here and campaign so hard for me shows the kind of momentum we are building.”

McCool said he picked up experience in Raleigh acting as the de facto liaison for the Matthews board when it came to matters dealing with the state legislature. If he wins, he said he plans to hold monthly office hours in Matthews Town Hall to talk with constituents.

McCool also said he opposed the I-77 South toll road project “before it was cool.”

“I think the thing that is most infuriating about it is the political hypocrisy of it. You know, when Raleigh got angry that the CRTPO and the municipalities pulled their support of I-77, they threatened to make us pay back the money and planning,” McCool said. “To which I asked when Tricia got the PAVE Act passed and they cut Silver Line out of East Charlotte and Matthews, there was $40 million in planning spent on that, and with a stroke of a pen, it was gone. And where was the outcry for that money to be reimbursed?”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Cotham wrote: “Rep. Cotham remains committed to working with anyone who wants to improve the lives of the residents of Mecklenburg County. She will build on the work she has done to strengthen public safety. She will also continue to advocate for more funding directly to students, educators, and classrooms so every child has a chance to succeed.”